Introduction: 5 Minute Construction Ice Boots
Intro:
so these past 2 days have been just above freezing temp and raining: but, today it is 7 below, typical February Toronto weather. this morning I got to work and my constriction site was a big sheet of ice. I am not prepared for this sort of thing so I don't really have boot studs handy.
I scrounged up some tie wire in my office and some pliers and figured out a quick temporary fix to give my boots some grip.
here is how you can iceify your steel toes without screwing into them or buying boot studs:
Disclaimer: this DIY is purely a convenience based utility and in no way should it be used as a safety device. ice is dangerous and by no means should someone walk on ice without exercising caution. if you are not capable of walking on ice this instructable is not going to change that.
Step 1: Acquire Tools and Materials
Get these:
-> pliers with snips (as you can see mine are quite "broken in"
-> tie wire (easy to get, very common on most construction sits.)
-> steel toed (or not?) boots
-> a cup of hot coffee (because if you need to make ice boots, its probably very cold out.)
Step 2: Prepare Piece of Wire
OK, don't blink this is going to be quick.
cut a piece of wire about 18-20" long depending on the boot, longer is better because you can always cut off excess.
starting about 1.5" in from the end of your piece twist 3 or 4 little loops about an inch apart (single twist don't go crazy, well tighten those later)
and now you are ready to install.
Step 3:
wrap your wire around the toe of your boot, you will be twisting this pretty tight so try to keep the wire over the steel toe portion so as not to compromise comfort.
keep the end that will be twist jointed under the boot because once twisted it will act as a stud itself.
go ahead and twist the ends to create a tight loop around the toe with the little loops (studs) on the sole.
at this point the wire will be a bit loose so ho ahead and tighten the heck out of the loops individually to strengthen the "studs" and tighten the wire.
repeat as necessary, feel free to throw 3 or 4 of these things on depending on how icy it is.
Step 4: Finished
and your done, this will buy you a surprising amount of grip on the ice, now I'm not saying to go ahead and climb up a glacier in the Arctic but at least you wont have to walk around on the ice like you have a wedgy all day.
The goods:
-makes walking on ice a bit less dicey
- impress all of your friends with your sweet tie wire macgrouber skills.
-pretty good temporary quick fix for that one time thing.
- only takes about 3 minutes, 2 if your good with pliers.
the bads:
- if you are going to be walking around on bare concrete allot, they will get ground down pretty quickly
- I couldn't figure out how to make it work for the heel, so it takes a little getting used to.
Disclaimer: this DIY is purely a convenience based utility and in no way should it be used as a safety device. ice is dangerous and by no means should someone walk on ice without exercising caution. if you are not capable of walking on ice this instructable is not going to change that.
NOTE:
yes the studs do end up getting bent up, but thy still grab the ice just the same.
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9 Comments
6 years ago
Hello Stefan, nice article! IInteresting tip for working on ice. :) Our team also put together an article
about construction boots. Feel free to check it out. https://geniebelt.com/blog/8-best-boots-construction
10 years ago on Introduction
yea, I guess I am due for a new pair, these ons are about 9 months old now, but rubber and ice don't mix, regardless of the rubber tread on your boots, ice is a real obstacle on the job site.
Reply 8 years ago on Introduction
Us construction workers try to find bags that doesn't have holes when the boots leak water. I thought of patched the holes with gorilla because I done that with those pool mattresses and beach balls
8 years ago on Introduction
That looks like rebar tie wire haha it must be!
You might find a couple strips of 4' of rebar tie wire around construction jobs that is going to pour or just poured the concrete foundation. I used the tie wire to tie the rebar of course but also good for tying up our wood materials we reuse. If you go to a job site, please do not take the whole roll of tie wire haha, omg that is the worse thing for us if we ran out of it in our trunk or different workers are to finish the job. If you take 20' or 30' or 50' then its all good but not the whole roll!
Tie wire rolls can be found at Home Depot for a few-several dollars in the concrete section with all the other concrete tools like the shoes and rebar and rebar ties and clips and its there.
Reply 8 years ago on Introduction
A business owner of a foundation company had taught me to make pants belts with tie wire--- he doesn't wear leather belts, he wears steal rebar tie wire for a belt. So we also use tie wire for our pants belts and to fix our hammer mounts that attach to our belt and whatever else we think of. Tie wire has lots of use hahaha.
10 years ago on Introduction
slick trick. i may try this next winter. i live in northern indiana, and work outside on a farm. mickey mouse boots are warm and dry, but kinda slickery on the ice. was going to buy surplus boot cleats, but this is cheaper, and less intrusive. you could leave these on permanently, without total floor destruction in your wake. well, not total anyway.
10 years ago on Introduction
Very Nice!
10 years ago on Introduction
Great idea. I really like it. But Sir, you might not need this if your work boots had any tread left on them :)
10 years ago on Introduction
Nice idea :)